J Korean Geriatr Psychiatry.  2007 Jun;11(1):29-34.

Comparison of the Efficacy between Risperidone and Quetiapine in Elderly Patients with Delirium

• Kim HS
• Chung YC
• Lee KJ
• Kwon GH
• Seo HS
• Park YM

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
Many studies showed that risperidone and olanzapine in the treatment of delirium were similar to haloperidol, in side effects were superior to that. Quetiapine is frequently used in delirious patients. However, the studies of quetiapine in the treatment of delirium are very few. This study was designed to compare the efficacy of risperidone and quetiapine in elderly patients with delirium.
METHODS
We divided 2 groups (risperidone and quetiapine) of elderly patients with delirium. We compared the two groups of elderly patients with delirium by Korean Version of Delirium Rating Scale (K-DRS) and Korean Mini-Mental State Examination (K-MMSE) at baseline and 1 week later.
RESULTS
Our results showed that risperidone and quetiapine were efficacious in the treatment of elderly patients with delirium according to using K-DRS and K-MMSE. There were no significant differences in the degree of effects in both drugs.
CONCLUSION
We compared the efficacy of risperidone and quetiapine in the treatment of delirium. Quetiapine was as efficacious as risperidone in the treatment of the elderly patients with delirium. In future, the sample size need to be increased in the studies of delirium. And the evaluation of long-term side effects related to quetiapine need to be performed.

Keyword

Delirium; Risperidone; Quetiapine; K-DRS; K-MMSE

MeSH Terms

Aged*
Delirium*
Haloperidol
Humans
Risperidone*
Sample Size
Quetiapine Fumarate
Haloperidol
Risperidone